Scandinavia

Day 25: Tore to Pello

| tom@Childsi

Julien had a little bit of a late start this morning as it took him some time to recover from the 95 miles he cycled yesterday.

He knew that today would be a bit shorter and was expecting to cover around 120km.

He set off towards OverKalix and cycled towards the town for 53km. The route was very hilly and Julien faced a constant headwind that really slowed him down.

The hills and the wind meant that it took Julien 4 and a half hours to reach OverKalix, rather than the two hours he was expecting.

Julien stopped in briefly at OverKalix, which was a really nice picturesque town. He pushed on and was excited about heading towards Finland.

Julien cycled to Övertorneå and again faced a strong headwind. This meant he arrived at the town about an hour later than he was expecting.

He had a bite to eat at Övertorneå and then cycled onwards crossing the bridge from Sweden in Finland.

Crossing the bridge Julien had about 50km of great cycling. The road was finally flat, the wind died down and there was very little traffic.

Julien passed the campsite he had originally planned to stay in and decided to push on to the Artic Circle.

Finland is two hours ahead of the UK so by the time Julien arrived everything had shut down, but he was still really chuffed to have made it the Artic Circle after 2000 miles!

The excitement of reaching the Artic Circle gave Julien a boost of energy and he continued on for another 25km.

However the wind picked up and he was very tired by this stage so it took him a couple of hours to reach the nearest campsite.

When Julien arrived at the town it was absolutely buzzing with people in the streets and a band playing.

Julien had to queue to get into the campsite and once he made it inside he discovered that a massive motor racing event is occurring over the next couple of days.

At 11.30 it was still really bright outside with the sun still a fair distance above the horizon. Combined with the party atmosphere Julien is not expecting much sleep tonight!

Still, hopefully Julien will get some sleep before cycling on tomorrow – he really is on the home stretch now!

Here is the Google Map for today. You can sponsor Julien on his Just Giving page.

Please also visit the Child’s i Foundation and see if you can do anything to help out!

Day 24: Älvsbyn to Tore

| tom@Childsi

Julien could not get a signal on his phone last night, but I just got a text from him with an update on what he got up to yesterday.

He started out a little bit later than usual because his clothes were stuck in the campsites washing machine!

Eventually the owner of the campsite managed to fix the machine and Julien set off at about 11.

He cycled towards Lulea on a rough road and was shaken around quite a bit on the way. On the plus side he saw some stunning views on the route.

He stopped in for lunch but couldn’t read the menu so randomly ordered something to eat. He is still not sure what it was but said it tasted ok!

Julien did not particularly like Lulea, he got stuck on a dangerous dual carriageway on the way north to Tore.

The hard shoulder was sometimes only 10cm wide and traffic was passing him by at 70mph!

To avoid this Julien decided to take a much longer back road route which turned into stone / mud tracks. He did an extra 50km as a result.

He got to Tore and found a campsite that had some gorgeous views over the sea.

Julien thinks it was a bit of a mistake to come to the Baltic coast, as the roads are all so busy.

Julien is now heading on to Finland. Here is the Google Map of yesterday’s journey.

You can sponsor Julien on his Just Giving page.

Day 23: Slagnas to Älvsbyn

| tom@Childsi

Today was all about getting to Älvsbyn so Julien covered the miles as quickly as possible.

He left Slagnas this morning and was on the road for a while before he saw any other vehicles.

Julien has noticed that the roads are getting significantly quieter as he heads towards Nordkapp.

After cycling for about 94km Julien made it to Arvidsjaur where he stopped for lunch.

He left the town at around 2 and had to contend with more hills and insects as he pushed further on.

To try and avoid the bugs Julien had to maintain a fast speed.

The one time he stopped to change the audio book he was listening to on his Ipod, Julien was surrounded by a swarm on insects – horrible!

So he kept up the fast pace and powered on, arriving at Älvsbyn at around 6.30.

Julien will make it to the Baltic tomorrow and is aiming to camp at either Tore or Kalik. By the following night he hopes to arrive at the Artic Circle.

Here is the Google Map for today.

Please remember that Julien is undertaking his massive journey to support the Child’s i Foundation, a great charity that is aiming to build a home for abandoned babies in Uganda.

You can support the charity and sponsor Julien by visiting his Just Giving page.

Day 22: Vilhelmina to Slagnas

| tom@Childsi

Julien started off feeling a bit down this morning.

He stayed in a campsite right by a road and the noise made by passing cars and his fellow campers meant that he kept waking up last night.

To cheer himself up Julien set off early, had a big breakfast and bought some provisions for the day. This did the trick and he started feeling more positive.

He cycled towards Stromma knowing that there were major roadworks up ahead.

The road Julien needed to take had been completely ripped up and replaced with flat stones and a new layer of sticky tarmac.

Most of the road was very jagged and Julien’s bike was constantly shaking as a cycled on at a slow pace alongside a number of motor homes!

He made it to Stromma by lunchtime. But it turned out to be a pretty dull place. The only café in the town was in a library!

After lunch he pushed on to Sorsele. The route there was pretty tough going with more hills that took a long time to cycle up and over.

Julien suffered some sudden pain in his left leg but after taking some tablets this subsided.

Sorsele was also a bit of a disappointment with a very basic campsite, so Julien decided to cover some more miles and head towards Slagnas.

Despite the unfortunate name Slagnas tuned out to be a really nice place with a campsite set up for travellers.

The owner of the campsite told Julien that a few other people had already passed through on the way to Nordkapp.

Overall Julien cycled for 12 hours today and covered a huge 109 miles.

Here is Google Map number twenty-two. You can sponsor Julien on his Just Giving page and please also visit the Child’s i Foundation. Thank you!

Day 21: Stromsund to Vilhelmina

| tom@Childsi

I am pleased to report that Julien had a much better day today.

He took good care of his leg keeping it heavily strapped and he suffered very little pain throughout the day.

Thankfully the roads also started to flatten out a bit. There were still some hills but they were not as big as they have been over the last few days.

Julien started by cycling to Hoting. From there he cycled along a long road surrounded by trees on either side.

He made it to a nice town called Dorotea where he chatted to some locals about the route ahead and the conditions in Nordkapp.

Julien also met a Swedish traveller who is cycling from the north tip of Sweden right down to the southernmost point and he and Julien were able to compare notes.

Whilst chatting by a railroad track Julien spotted a Reindeer and its baby who walked close by before returning to the forest. Julien says it was a bit of a magic moment!

From Dorotea Julien cycled along a fast stretch of road and stopped at Meselefors for lunch. He met another Swedish guy who was travelling across the country.

He warned Julien that the roads ahead are in a bit of bad state.

As a result Julien is expecting to have to push his bike along for the first hour or so tomorrow.

Before making it to Vilhelmina where he is staying for the night, Julien saw a sign that told him he officially entered Lapland.

He covered 82 miles today and is planning to cycle around 95 tomorrow to make it to Sorsele. Julien hopes to make it to the artic circle in about five days.

The bad news is that Julien is going to have to put up with almost 24-hour daylight for a while longer.

It also sounds like there are many more insects to come as he heads further north.

Here is the Google Map for today. Please also visit the Child’s i Foundation and Julein’s Just Giving page. Thanks!

You can also visit the blogs of the travellers Julien met today. Click to visit blog one and blog two.

Day 20: Angsta to Stromsund

| tom@Childsi

Sunday was a bit of a day of reckoning for Julien. It was the first day on the trip that he felt he might not make it.

After leaving the campsite at Angsta Julien cycled for 25km to a small town where he stocked up on fruit, veg and water for the road ahead.

He then continued on and tried to find somewhere in the country to stop for a bite to eat.

However Julien had been warned that the roads out of Ostersund were very complex and it took him a long time to find a decent route out of the city.

The main route Julien wanted to take had many signs saying no bikes allowed, so he took an alternative road that was longer but had some really spectacular views.

Eventually Julien hit a small town, which he described as being a real hole!

He tried to buy something to eat there but the food was so bad he had to throw it away!

As Julien continued north the amount of insects began to increase especially as he cycled up some large hills.

As he cycled up one hill Julien was surrounded by around 50 flies and wasps and he had to cycle as fast as he could to try and shake them off.

Unfortunately he pushed a little too hard and aggravated the leg muscle that he injured a couple of days ago.

This made it really painful for him to cycle on especially up and down more hills.

His leg was giving him so much trouble that the last 15km took Julien 2 hours!

Eventually though he made it to the campsite in Stromsund where he stayed for the night.

At the campsite Julien phoned his girlfriend who is a physiotherapist and she gave him some good advice on how to deal with the injury.

Julien also met a really friendly lady called Linnea (sorry if the spelling is wrong!) who was really interested in his journey and who was very sympathetic about his injuries.

Looking ahead Julien expects the landscape to be a little flatter over the next couple of days.

However he is aiming to take it slow on Monday and see how bad his leg is. If the pain continues he may have to take a day or two off.

Let’s hope that he is ok to continue on.

Here is the Google Map of day twenty and a Google Map of the Journey so Far.

You can sponsor Julien on his Just Giving page. Please also visit the Child’s i Foundation. Thank you!

Day 19: Sveg to Angsta

| tom@Childsi

Today has been another tiring one for Julien.

He set out early this morning, unsure whether to stay at a campsite 60 miles away or go further to the next one at 100 miles.

He made good times and stopped at the first campsite at around 4.

Some of the people there told Julien that the route ahead was quite flat and as he though he had enough in him to cycle further, he decided to push on and cover another 40 miles.

Unfortunately it tuned out that there were many more hills along the way. This caused Julien some pain in his leg but overall he thinks that his injuries are not bad enough for him to slow down.

After 12 hours of cycling Julien made it to Angsta where is he staying for the night.

He has been cycling huge distances in Sweden, averaging about 95 miles a day since he started cycling across the country.

However Julien expects the next couple of days to be slightly shorter at around 70 miles a day. He hopes to make it to the Baltic in about 4 days and to Finland in about a week.

Here is the Google Map for today. Please also visit the Child’s i Foundation and sponsor Julien on his Just Giving page. Thanks very much!

Day 18: Mora to Sveg

| tom@Childsi

Today was Julien’s most tiring so far.

He left Mora this morning a little later than he planned as he had to wait for his clothes to dry from the day before.

Whilst he waited Julien got to talking with a guy called Christian who was staying in a tent next to him.

Christian told Julien that he had just been to Nordkapp on a motorcycle and that he found it pretty tough going.

He warned Julien that further north service stations are about 100km apart so it is important to take lots of fluid onboard.

After chatting for a bit Julien set off at around 10 and made it towards Orsa.

After passing through Orsa Julien again faced some really massive hills and bad roads. He cycled up one hill for an entire hour!

He climbed up the hill at about 4mph and had to drink about 4 litres of water to keep hydrated.

After many false summits Julien made it to the top, but more hills stretched out ahead of him.

Cycling across the hills took its toll as Julien pulled a muscle in his right leg. As a result he has been applying deep heat and popping painkillers for most of the day.

Julien stopped in to get something to eat and drink at a small village, as he was seriously hungry and dehydrated by the middle of the day.

There was some good news though. Julien met a German guy in the village who was very friendly and who was on his own journey from Germany to Poland and through the Baltic states.

They had a good chat and Julien was able to pick up some advice on his route ahead.

He was advised to head towards Ostersund and told that once he reached the town the landscape would be beautiful – but more importantly flat!

After talking to the German Julien bought a litre of coke from a local store, which he quickly drained before continuing on to Sveg where he is camping for the night.

Before turning in for the night Julien grabbed some food, had a shower and tried to deal with some of the many insect bits he has sustained in Sweden!

Here is the Google Map for today. Please visit the Child’s i Foundation and sponsor Julien on his Just Giving page.

Day 17: Lesjofors to Mora

| tom@Childsi

Today has been pretty starightforward for Julien.

Last night he stayed in a campsite right by a road, which he ended up following all day today.

Julien was feeling quite tired today as he continued to recover from the 101 miles he cycled the day before. However he still managed to clock up 84 miles!

Because the campsite he was staying in last night had no washing machine, Julien had to reuse his clothes from the day before. Not very comfortable!

After about 50 miles Julien made it to Vansbro. The road there was quite tough with rough roads and big hills.

Julien was also facing a headwind all day. He reached around 4-5mph up hill and about 10mph on the way down.

He stopped in for lunch at a bit of a one horse town and has noticed that towns and villages are becoming significantly smaller as he heads futher north.

Julien is also having to adjust to the fact that he is now facing almost 24 hour daylight. By 7 in the morning it is very hot in his tent!

After lunch Julien continued towards Mora and made it just outside of the town to a picturesque campsite by a beach.

Julien is aiming to cover at least 90 miles a day from here on in as he aims to reach the Finnish border by next weekend.

Here is the Google Map for today. Please also visit the Child’s i Foundation and Julien’s Just Giving page. Thanks!